Tigers Drop Five-Setter To Temple

Friday, September 18

Princeton, N.J.

5:00 PM

Princeton University

2-5,0-0Ivy League

Temple

6-4,0-0American

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Temple	25	21	11	25	15	3
Princeton	21	25	25	20	9	2

Photo by: Sideline Photos, LLC

September 18, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PRINCETON, N.J. – In a five-set heartbreaker, the Princeton women's volleyball team fell in its home opener, 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 25-11, 20-25, 9-15) to Temple on Friday in Dillon Gym.

Erin McNair led the Tigers with a game-high 17 kills. Helping on offense, Sydney Draper made 38 assists.

Jackie Onyechi led the Tiger defense with 4.0 total blocks, while libero Sydney Bold tallied 17 digs.

With the loss, Princeton falls to 2-5 on the season, while Temple improves to 6-4.

How It Happened
The first two points of the day went to the Tigers off a Shelby Buriss block and an ace by Ashtyn Sims. With two kills by McNair, the Tigers made it 4-1 to start. With a run of their own, Temple tied it and took the lead through 13 points, before an ace by Harrington tied it and a block by Onyechi put Princeton ahead again.

Trading points, the Tigers and the Owls went back and forth, with McNair tallying six kills in the set. Still, Temple finished off Set One with five unanswered points to take it, 25-21.

Responding, the Tigers put up a dominant second set, taking the lead with a 4-0 run and not conceding it once after. Another pair of McNair kills built the run before an Onyechi-Sarah Hom block forced the Owls to call a timeout at 7-2.

Temple responded with its own 4-1 run, but the Tigers answered again and held the lead, 15-13, at the media timeout. Hom added a pair of kills and an ace, and McNair and Harrington added big swings as the set continued to be all Tigers. With a kill by Onyechi ending it, Princeton took the second set 25-20.

Princeton again powered through the third set, exploding with a 6-0 run after 4-4 with two more kills from Hom, an ace by McNair and another Onyechi-Hom block. Book-ending the set with another run, four more Tiger points ended it as Princeton went up 2-1.

With Temple starting the fourth set with a small advantage, the Tigers used another four point run off kills by McNair and Onyechi to take the lead. However, Temple was able to come up down the stretch with a 7-1 run to retake the advantage late at 21-19, forcing a Tiger timeout. Princeton fought with another kill by Burriss, but it was too little too late as Temple equalized with the Fourth Set 25-20.

Going into the fifth, Temple again took off with a run early, going up 4-0 to start before extending it to 11-3. With an Owl service error and two attack errors, the Tigers were able to cut the deficit down to five. Despite a strong block from Onyechi at 13-8, Temple beat the Tigers in the race to 15 and they took the match.

Of Note